UConn vs Illinois (Final Four)

[Mots010]

They better be. That’d be like us playing in NYC in the 1999 F4

Home crowd is overrated in these dome games.

 

[RuffRuff]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/48390165/final-four-predictions-winners-national-champion-arizona-michigan-uconn-illinois-2026

UConn v Zona

28/44 Uconn - two guys have us winning it. Will be curious to see if the line moves at all. With you that I think we should win this one and then it's really gravy, but do like the dynamic of the winner of the second game squeezing the last drop and thinking the NC a walk in park on short rest.

Gary Parrish was salivating over Illinois margin of victory in the tournament vs UConns the other day, and using it as a reason why he liked Illinois. Shouldn't who you've played so far be in consideration when evaluating that.

GP consistently has some of the dumbest takes out there. He likes to think he's a math savant of some sort and regularly tries to convince himself of a choice based on some random data, like that. The fact he's taking Illinois would be in our favor - he is always wrong. Took Purdue to beat us.

Best way to break down a game like this is matchups of players and styles and coaches. That's it. It's not a past game, at all. It's not even how they did against opponents in the tourney. Look at this player for player, understand where the mismatches are and which coach is smart enough to take advantage of them consistently in the game.

 

[husky8273]

 

[HooperScooper]

All 6 CBS Sports college basketball writers pick Illinois. Good.

2026 March Madness predictions: NCAA expert bracket picks, odds for Final Four games on Saturday

Our experts give their opinion on Saturday's Final Four games in the 2026 NCAA Tournament

www.cbssports.com

O.K. this is funny. Norlander and Parrish both picked Illinois straight up in that article. Yesterday they did a show (below) where they both picked UConn. Norlander at 4:45 of the video picks UConn to win 76-73 and Parrish at 9:45 picks UConn. Wtf? Are they just trying to hedge their bets so they can say they were right? So ridiculous they do that.

 

[NJHusky]

Illinois fans showing up

They haven’t been there in 21 years and it’s in their backyard. Would expect nothing less

 

[Scrutineer]

That's an odd cutoff though. Why 12? Why not top 15 or top 25?

Those are the numbers that allow them to prove their theory,........

 

[Scoe]

We do need something out of Reibe just a couple of rebounds and pts that's it, make your fts that of course goes for everybody.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

We do need something out of Reibe just a couple of rebounds and pts that's it, make your fts that of course goes for everybody.

He played very well against them in November. This is a much better matchup for him than a lot of others because he’s not going against overly athletic or powerful 5s. They’re just big.

 

[Inyatkin]

Matchups are important, but they can be overstated. It can lead you to believe Duke will kill us because Karaban can’t stop Boozer, or that Flory Bidunga will “eat up” Eric Reibe. Even if matchups look bad individually, they don’t tell the whole story. Teams adjust.